These event changes are
intended to put the OW Zone Championships in the language of
OW swimming:

10u athletes will swim 1K
(instead of a 1/2 mile)

11-12 athletes will swim 2K
(instead of 1 mile)

13-14 athletes will swim 3K
(instead of 1.5 miles)

the Open 5K race will remain
unchanged

Additionally, the top 3
finishers in the Open 5K will qualify to swim the 5K race at OW
Nationals. Plus, the fastest 3 16&Under finishers
(outside the top 3) in the Open 5K will be invited to a
special "junior" 5K race at OW Nationals.

Changes to the 14&Under Zone
Championships

All 14&Under Central
Zone meets will now be four days. Previously, only
MegaZone Meets were four days.
Within the new four day format, 11-12 and 13-14 age groups will
swim prelim/finals on all four days. 10&Under athletes will
swim in timed finals on three of the four days: Thursday,
Friday and Saturday.

The following new events
have been added to the meet (event order is still
pending):

10u 400m Freestyle

11-12 400m IM, 800m Freestyle,
1500m Freestyle

13-14 50m Butterfly, 50m
Backstroke, 50m Breaststroke

Disability/Para swimmers have been
invited to the Zone Meet for the past several years, but starting
this summer, disability/para swimmers will compete against
each other in prelims and finals and will score points for their
respective teams. Team Michigan can take six girls and six boys,
14&Under, to swim diability/para events at the Zone
Championships.

Finally, the Zone Meet time
standards have long been the National AAA standards. That will be
true again in 2017 (click
here for the new 2017-2020 new standards), but the Zone
Qualifying times will be reviewed and updated before the 2018, 2019
and 2020 meets. It is probable that some or all Zone qualfying
times will be faster than the AAA standards in 2018, 2019 and
2020.